Early in the year we lost Ben for a while (to an inner-ear ailment) and as a pitching staff we picked up the slack pretty well, ... So this time we just got together and said, 'Hey, we've got to do the same thing here.'

There is no substitute for facing live pitching. When you go against the machine or the coaches, it's just not the same.

My sophomore year I didn't really have a position. Whoever was pitching, I played their position.

I felt good leaving camp last year. I felt we had the deepest pitching staff we'd had. There are more questions this year, but Randy and Moose are throwing better, and our bullpen guys have really come around.

That's something [director of pitching development] Dewey [Robinson] and the staff have really worked on in the last year or so, [improving] his mound presence. Not only him, but all the other pitchers in the organization. But that's really stood out.

Our pitching staff is a conspiracy of ifs.